ONIC PH books UB spot after topping 'Group of Death'

ONIC Philippines

 by Drew Malihan

MANILA - The Filipino showcase in the M3 World Championship continues as ONIC Philippines tops Group B in Singapore on Tuesday.

Despite a first-game loss against mother team ONIC Esports Indonesia, the boys in yellow and black clipped two statement wins against Malaysian contenders Todak and MPL Brazil runners up Keyd Stars in the so-called "Group of Death."

The Filipinos picked a hyper aggresive five with all their comfort heroes and a mid lane Aamon in Hatred to pair with Lancelot and Rafaela against a double marksman ONIC Indonesia lineup with jungle Natan and mid lane Beatrix.

It was a toe to toe battle from early to mid game but Kairi and Hatred's heroics in the lord pit grabbed them a significant advantage plus two kills to their Indonesian counterparts.

The Indonesians however made a monumental comeback in the 19th minute as they boxed out the entire ONIC PH quintet leading to a lord steal by Drian, and will all but Markyyyy's Lylia down the count, ONIC ID went on to call GGs.

ONIC PH exacts their revenge, however, on a perennial contender as they claimed a close victory over Todak that went into the economy game.

Todak unveiled their signature off-meta picks picking a jungle Alucard for Cikugais while ONIC PH went on to have a double marksman setup of Beatrix and jungle Natan along with the debut of the Faramis in the tournament.

Baloyskie made wonders with the Rafaela however as he clipped in eleven assists in all but one ONIC PH kills including the closer team fight which saw Hatred have a 9/3/1 masterclass of the Beatrix.

It wasn't a close fight gold wise however as despite being level in kills in almost the entire game, ONIC PH secured early to mid game advantage as they quickly took down towers in the sides courtesy of the Beatrix and Faramis.

With ONIC Indonesia's upset loss against both Keyd Stars and Todak in both comeback fashion, ONIC PH ends the series with the win against their Brazilian counterparts in Keyd Stars in quick fashion.

ONIC PH went with their comfort Uranus pick in Dlarskie along with jungle Aamon, sidelane Popol and Kupa, Rafaela and Pharsa to counter a pseudo-UBE Keyd Stars lineup powered bt the Mathilda and the Yi Sun-shin.

Mayke's Mathilda suffered the ONIC PH onslaught as Baloyskie has another perfect 1/0/9 game with the Rafaela while Dlarskie showed another Uranus masterclass in less than 12 minutes while only falling down once.

The Brazilians fell into the Dlarskie trap as the Uranus tanked all damage from five Keyd heroes while the rest of ONIC PH have a four-man push in the bottom lane then splitting up the top and mid.

With the lord taken by ONIC without much challenge, the four man gang walked with it in the top lane for a base push while Dlarskie stayed in the lower lane luring all the minions to force Keyd into retreat mode but to no avail as another GG push ends the game.

Todak will also join ONIC PH in the upper bracket as they managed to claim victories against ONIC ID and Keyd Stars.

The group stage continues with Group C action as Natus Vincere, SeeYouSoon, EVOS SG, and BloodThirstyKings battle it out for playoff position.

Follow him on Twitter: @drewmalihan